Asbestos

Product Notes

'The Hypertonics exist. 'Great. So do thousands of other bands. But none of those bands seems to have the energy or the intellect to conceive of and execute such a rigorous and downright enviable self-promotional campaign. Their posters - huge 11x17 jobs, often one right on top of another - brag about their 'Proletarian Bass,' 'Cabaret Guitars' and 'Dishpan Vocals'; they are 'Relevant,' 'First-Generation,' and 'Difficult.' But I want to be relevant, first-generation and difficult, too. . . . ''The whole idea of the posters,' explains Brian Lord, who sings and plays guitar, 'is that if I can't quite say it in the songs, I'll say it in the posters. It's about building a new vocabulary, and beginning to talk and think about music in different ways. So we do that by using words you don't usually hear in the context of rock and roll. Like: 'What kind of band are you?' 'We're a nutritious band.' And what the f*** does that mean? Well, a bunch of things. And it means that we want to challenge the culture to get better, and we want to help it develop.' ''If there's one thing we can do, it's put a few words together in an interesting and provocative way,' adds Mike Rogers, of the proletarian bass. 'But if it's going to be on the edge, it has to be high-volume. It has to be a spectacle - but we don't have the resources to create a spectacle. So we do our best, but there are still problems. Everyone thinks we're 'the HyperTRONics.' Brian met Joe Strummer and gave him a copy of our CD, and he said, 'The Hypertronics,' what a good name for a band.' ''Hyper,' anyway, is right on target. Mike and Brian pull no punches in their live show, swirling pop and punk and good old power-chordy guitar rock into and energetic brew as ideologically challenging as it is melodically accessible. Inner Noise Records released their EP, Asbestos, in early March.'

Credits

'The Hypertonics exist. 'Great. So do thousands of other bands. But none of those bands seems to have the energy or the intellect to conceive of and execute such a rigorous and downright enviable self-promotional campaign. Their posters - huge 11x17 jobs, often one right on top of another - brag about their 'Proletarian Bass,' 'Cabaret Guitars' and 'Dishpan Vocals'; they are 'Relevant,' 'First-Generation,' and 'Difficult.' But I want to be relevant, first-generation and difficult, too. . . . ''The whole idea of the posters,' explains Brian Lord, who sings and plays guitar, 'is that if I can't quite say it in the songs, I'll say it in the posters. It's about building a new vocabulary, and beginning to talk and think about music in different ways. So we do that by using words you don't usually hear in the context of rock and roll. Like: 'What kind of band are you?' 'We're a nutritious band.' And what the f*** does that mean? Well, a bunch of things. And it means that we want to challenge the culture to get better, and we want to help it develop.' ''If there's one thing we can do, it's put a few words together in an interesting and provocative way,' adds Mike Rogers, of the proletarian bass. 'But if it's going to be on the edge, it has to be high-volume. It has to be a spectacle - but we don't have the resources to create a spectacle. So we do our best, but there are still problems. Everyone thinks we're 'the HyperTRONics.' Brian met Joe Strummer and gave him a copy of our CD, and he said, 'The Hypertronics,' what a good name for a band.' ''Hyper,' anyway, is right on target. Mike and Brian pull no punches in their live show, swirling pop and punk and good old power-chordy guitar rock into and energetic brew as ideologically challenging as it is melodically accessible. Inner Noise Records released their EP, Asbestos, in early March.'